Drive to the Net: Is Puustinen Penguins' most intriguing prospect? taken at PPG Paints Arena (Drive to the Net)

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Valtteri Puustinen celebrates Jeff Carter's goal at PPG Paints Arena in March.

It's no secret the Penguins' prospect pool is rather abysmal compared to what many teams around the league have stocked.

Not to diminish the NHL-readiness of Drew O'Connor, Radim Zohorna and P.O Joseph, but the Penguins don't possess a single prospect who projects as a high-end difference maker at this point in time.

Sam Poulin and Alex Nylander are candidates to be called up for spot duty with the Penguins at some point next season, but for now the likelihood of either carving out a meaningful career in the NHL isn't great.

2022 draft picks Owen Pickering (First round, No. 21 overall) and Zam Plante (Fifth round, No. 150 overall) are intriguing and appear to have a bit of upside -- even if they won't be stars -- but remain years away from seeing the NHL if they ever make it.

That's a reality the Penguins have faced for seasons on end as a consequence of remaining competitive over a 16-year span.

One prospect I haven't mentioned, Valtteri Puustinen, certainly isn't a slam dunk to make an impact in the NHL, but there's reason to believe he's got just as good of a chance to do so as any other Penguins prospect.

Puustinen, 23, has seen rather significant progress in his development since he was drafted by the Penguins in the seventh round (No. 203 overall) of the 2019 draft. Frankly, he's one in a minuscule group of seventh-round draft picks who ever put themselves in position to crack through to the NHL, and that's impressive in its own right.

The 5-foot-9, 183-pound winger made his NHL debut last season when the Penguins hosted the Golden Knights at PPG Paints Arena on Mar. 11. It was the only game he played with the Penguins before he was sent back to the AHL, but that had nothing to do with his performance and everything to do with the Penguins' lineup configuration due to injuries.

In fact, even though Puustinen logged just over 10 minutes of ice-time in his NHL debut, he managed to make his presence felt on several occasions.

During Puustinen's 8:42 of ice-time at even-strength, the Penguins outscored the Knights 2-0 while controlling 68.1% of the expected goals ... with Jeff Carter at center for most of that time.

Here are all of the unblocked shot locations (scaled to their expected goal value) for and against when Puustinen was on the ice at even-strength, courtesy of Evolving-Hockey:

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Evolving-Hockey

Squares (unblocked shot locations) are scaled to their expected goal (xG) value. Bigger = higher probability of becoming a goal.

In a very short amount of time the Penguins mustered four quality looks from the slot and net-front area -- two of which lit the lamp -- while surrendering a lone quality chance against with Puustinen out there.

Puustinen (PIT76) picked up a secondary assist to show for his efforts and played an important if subtle role on both Penguins goals when he was on the ice:

That pass to spring Brock McGinn was a thing of beauty, but it's everything Puustinen did leading up to that moment that made it possible.

As the Golden Knights skated the puck up the right side of the ice, Puustinen served as the weak side winger in the neutral zone, sagging back a bit in the event both F1 (forward closest to puck) and F2 (second-closest forward to puck) get burned. Before making it out of their zone, the Knights moved the puck cross-ice and caught Carter swinging against the grain of the puck's path. With McGinn marking his assignment all the way on the other side of the ice near the boards and Carter racing back to take the angle away, Puustinen smartly stood his ground near center-ice and funneled the subsequent pass to the outside instead of compromising his positioning to chase after the puck carrier even though a sizable gap existed.

Unseasoned players might panic and chase in that situation due to fear that the carrier could build speed, but standing his ground was all Puustinen needed to do to force an errant pass that gave possession right back to the Penguins.

Upon gaining possession, Kris Letang darted a pass of his own right to Puustinen, who did an incredible job of opening up his body and maneuvering his skates toward the middle of the ice to face the play in one swift motion. Because he simply received the puck in his hip-pocket and left it there rather than over-stickhandling while opening up to the middle, Puustinen was able to scan the ice and identify McGinn streaking in an instant.

"He's such a smart player," Carter said of Puustinen after the game. "I didn't know a whole lot about him going into tonight. I saw a little bit in training camp, that was about it. You could tell that he's just a smart player. He reads the game really well. I was very impressed with him tonight."

Puustinen's tremendous hockey IQ showed up again on Mark Friedman's tally in the third period:

After the Knights floated the puck into the Peguins' zone, Puustinen tracked Jack Eichel across the ice and legally interfered with him just enough to prevent him from swarming Friedman in the corner. Puustinen might be undersized but he certainly doesn't play like it, as he's frequently engaging in contact. Because of his size, he also might be able to get away with just a tad more than a larger player might.

The extra moment Puustinen afforded Friedman was all that was needed for the latter to reverse the play with a backhand bump-pass that wheeled along the boards to his defense partner. Puustinen wasted no time transitioning up ice and presented himself as an option in the middle. 

Pay special attention to the way he utilized crossovers instead of straight-ahead strides to weave back and forth from both ends of the center lane. As Brian Boyle neared the offensive blue line, Puustinen's crossovers pulled Shea Theodore closer to the puck, but by that point Puustinen was already crossing over the opposite way. From there Puustinen utilized a speed differential against Theodore and accelerated right around him on his way to establishing a presence at the net-front.

Puustinen's presence was enough to completely distract Theodore from the fact Friedman was racing down the right wing with all the time in the world -- that is, until it was too late.

That's how you can have a massive impact without so much as touching the puck.

Puustinen certainly didn't look like a player who made his debut on North American ice just five months prior. Before the start of last season, he spent the previous three seasons playing with HPK Hameenlinna in the Finnish Elite League (Liiga) where he saw his goal-scoring rate steadily improve from 0.21 goals per game his first season to 0.41 goals per game during his final Liiga season in 2020-21.

Aside from his one-game stint in the NHL, Puustinen played the rest of the 2021-22 season in the AHL with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, recording 20 goals and 22 assists in 73 games. He added three assists in six playoff games.

"I think when you look at Puusty's game, his greatest strengths are his offensive instincts, his ability to finish," Mike Sullivan said when Puustinen briefly joined the NHL club. "He can really shoot the puck. For me that's the area of the game where I think Puusty excels."

Impressive hockey IQ and above-average finishing ability? What's not to like?

While Puustinen is no stranger to getting his nose dirty and scoring greasy goals around the net and in traffic, he also possesses a lethal release from distance, like this:

And this:

On both tallies Puustinen displayed something that brought him a moment of success in the NHL: not over-stickhandling. There isn't much unnecessary movement in his arms and hands, so when he's ready to let 'er rip he can get the puck off his blade in a hurry. This also minimizes the risk of the puck bouncing around on him or rolling off his blade.

Still, there's gotta be more to the equation to beat professional goaltenders. In Puustinen's case, all of his power comes from his ability to get a ton of flex on his stick in order to rocket the puck off his blade. He generates that flex by properly transferring his weight between legs while shooting in addition to using the force from his upper-body to drive his stick into the ice. 

Here's a still image displaying those qualities, as well as him getting his top hand out and away from his midsection so that he has more leverage to snap the top end of his stick backward:

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On top of his finishing ability, Puustinen carries some playmaking upside. He's got pretty decent hands and completes finesse passes with regularity. The way he reads the game -- almost like he knows what's going to happen before it does -- only augments those skills.

Sullivan and co. got a glimpse of his playmaking upside in a preseason game against the Red Wings, where he caught the puck in stride going downhill, threatening to shoot, looking off everyone but the goalie, then sliding a pass to a teammate in a soft spot in the high slot:

He isn't a liability in his own end, either.

"He's a smart player," WBS head coach J.D. Forrest said during the season. "He's not the biggest guy, but he knows how to win battles, and make some good plays on the wall coming out of our D-zone. He reads the game extremely well, and that helps us with positioning in the D-zone. I'm not afraid to put him out there in any situation. He's a tough little player. As far as his D-zone, he definitely understands what we're trying to do in there. He's able to play that system."

Puustinen's skillset is so broad that he could be deployed in various roles on any line, really. Unlike some niche players who are kept around or signed for one specific reason, he has the potential to be the Penguins' next Swiss Army Knife.

"He's not a small player that doesn't engage in battles," former director of player development Scott Young told Taylor Haase. "He knows how to go in and win a battle. He's not going to run you over, but he'll go win the puck. He's got a great shot. A really good playmaker. He looks to me like he could play with our high-skilled players."

I have a tough time envisioning a scenario in which Puustinen makes the NHL team out of training camp.

I also have a tough time envisioning him not being one of the best 14 forwards at camp.

Sure, his game is completely different from Josh Archibald's, but is anyone convinced he wouldn't provide considerably more value regardless of deployment? I'd be willing to wager heavily that he would.

Nevertheless, the injury bug always comes knocking, and Puustinen figures to be right there with O'Connor and Zohorna as the first options called upon to step in.

Maybe next time around he'll force management's hand into keeping him up with the big club for an extended look. The hockey sense, skills and willingness to "play the game the right way" are right where they need to be for Puustinen, now it's just a matter of waiting for his next opportunity and seizing it.


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